Another Vinny Update

Vito, Mommy must apologize for hijacking your blog with all-things-Vinny. But I know you don't mind because you are just as concerned about Vinny as the rest of us!

First night.

Waking up. (Thanks in no part to my camera I'm sure...)

It's been a long few days for all of us. Vinny is doing okay, whatever "okay" means after such a traumatic surgery. He has mostly been in a sitting/standing trance since Wednesday morning (after sleeping all night Tuesday - the day of surgery). The vet said this was normal, caused by the narcotic pain killer that he is on. He also said that he probably does not want to lie down because of the incision, which seems to be true. I have seen him try to lie down on the rug and it's immediately uncomfortable for him and he returns to sitting or standing position. It is truly heartbreaking because I know how tired he has to be. He starts to fall asleep and catches himself.

He does this for HOURS on end...

Or this. Always with his tail down. :(

Bedtime has been hard. The first night, as I said, he slept like a rock. The second night, he woke up, and thus woke me up (luckily actually), by leaping in to action and trying to jump off of the bed at 2:30am. Again at 3:30am. Again at 4:30 am. Neither of us slept again that night. Last night, he did the same thing at 11:30 pm before I had fallen asleep, at which point I decided to just put him in his crate to make it easier for me since I had to actually go to work the next day (I stayed home with him the first day after). It wasn't easy for him though (or me it turned out), he cried at first and was still standing up when I fell asleep, whatever time that was. I woke up to him crying at 6:30am.

He was to be restricted from jumping on the furniture for FOUR WEEKS. But that has proven impossible to stop. He does it before I can catch him, and when I do try to lift him on or off of furniture while avoiding the massive incision, he fights and squirms which I think is more risky for injury than him jumping on to the furniture. Also when I have lifted him up, he immediately jumps back down. :(

This morning I took him back to the vet because I was concerned about how red the area was, and also about him being unable to lie down and sleep. They assured me that all was normal, but also gave me a lower dose pain killer to start tomorrow which should remove him from the trance-like state but still relieve his pain.

One should never wish their life away, but right now I would like to fast-forward four weeks when this boy is healed and I'm able to snuggle on him again!

We should have the results of his pancreas biopsy by the end of next week.

Thanks again for everyone's support! Pug hugs to all!

Vinny is Home!

This post will probably be a jumbled mess (and I apologize that I could not allow Vito to tell the story - I can't get the details right and I know he definitely can't!). We just got home with Vinny from his surgery this morning. Oh my, this baby is breaking my heart. He is SO sleepy (which is much better than being awake and in pain!). The incision is frankly frightening. Luckily I can work from home tomorrow to be with him.

As for the surgery - here is where my details probably aren't accurate, but I'm trying to remember everything the Dr. told me on the phone around 1pm today after Vinny woke from anesthesia. He said that the shunt was not what they were expecting once they got in there - it was a different kind of shunt - what kind I can't quite remember! Which might explain why his symptoms didn't match a typical liver shunt - what with him acting so healthy. But they did repair it. He then went on to tell me that the real concern is with his pancreas. It is very small, and could possibly be (or lead to?) something called EPI, which you can read about here. Or it could lead to diabetes. He did say that pancreatitis was probably not a possibility.

All very scary. BUT the doctor said all can be managed, thank God. I do not know at this point if I will be able to manage it financially as his forever Mom, but I do hope so. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. For now he has staples for 14 days, and must be kept "inactive" (no jumping on the furniture! How do I manage that??) for 4 weeks.

So much information to process, yet so much waiting to do. I know that everything will end up the way it is supposed to be though.

And thank you again so very much for all of your support, as well as your donations. Love to you all!

Sleeping with his head up

Sloooowly falling over...

Finally comfortable. Look at that hideous incision.

WARNING: Graphic incision photo below. Along with tiny puggy wee-wee, which he would hate me for posting.

Uuuuuuggggghhhhh

And Vito got a Shut Up Stick to distract him. He's still working on it!

THANK YOU!!

I am so incredibly excited and happy to tell you all that we raised EVERY penny for Vinny's surgery tomorrow!! I just cannot believe everyone's support and generosity. It means so much to all of us.

We're all very nervous about the surgery tomorrow. Please keep Vinny and the surgeon in your thoughts and prayers, and we will update you tomorrow night! With that, a montage of Sweet Vinny.

We love you all!

SO GRATEFUL!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you SO much to everyone who has donated toward Vinny's surgery, which is coming up on Tuesday. We have raised $865 of our $1,300 goal so far! I am completely overwhelmed and amazed. I know that many of our friends (and strangers too!) in Bloggerville have donated, and it is incredible.

You can still donate here and help us meet the goal! Just click on the little "Become a Virtual Foster" bone at the bottom of the page.

Again, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. And as the Slimmer Puggums say, we can't wait to pay it forward.

Vinny

Vinny Needs Your Help!

Hi all, Vito's mom here. We went to the vet yesterday for Vinny's ultrasound, and confirmed that he does have a "very large" shunt that is preventing blood flow to his liver. This is a very serious and scary situation. He is scheduled for surgery this coming Tuesday, July 26, and the hope is that this will "cure" him, however the doctor was cautious, saying that he thinks there may be other issues going on as well, which they will try to discover as they are doing the surgery, and will also be doing a biopsy on his liver then.

I'm reaching out to all of our friends in Bloggerville to beg for you to send a donation (big or small - every bit helps!) to SEPRA to help them pay for Vinny's surgery. It is going to cost $1,300 and the Rescue is already so over-stretched. Vinny and I (oh yes, and Vito too!) would be forever grateful. I've attached the link to his page. Just click on the "Become a Virtual Foster" link at the bottom of the page.

Help Vinny Here!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! I will keep you all posted. The good news is that he is still acting very normal and does not seem to be in any discomfort.

Visit(s) to the Vet(s)

Lots of updates to give, Mom's been slacking on the blog again. First of all, to follow up on the post about that unsightly bump on my side - Mom took me to the vet to get it checked out on Saturday. She put my harness on me about 15 minutes before we left, and I WAS READY TO GO!

Come ON, Mom, you are SO SLOOOOOOOW.

The good news is that they think that little bump is either a benign cyst or a skin tag. They tested some cells and they all came back fine. They are going to look at it again when I go for my shots in October. And in more good news, I'm down to 21.5 pounds! That's down a whole pound since last October (and 2.5 pounds since a few months after she got me and porked me up on treats while we were in obedience training!). Mom says it's the grain-free food. I say it's the starvation. Po-TAY-to, Po-TAH-to.

Now on to a little scarier stuff. The Saturday before last, Mom took Vinny to the vet because he had been barfing. They did blood tests on him and his liver enzymes were "markedly high." (Mom saw the results and she thinks "markedly" is an understatement.) So the vet said since Vinny is acting totally normal (and he has stopped vomiting), and is still eating like a pig, that he wanted to wait one week to re-check the levels. So Mom took Vinny back to the vet this past Saturday (yes she had to take 2 different pugs to 2 different vets that day!) and she got the results again today. There has been only slight improvement. So now they want to do an ultrasound and possibly a liver biopsy.

The vet said there are several things it could be. One being a "portal systemic shunt" which is something they are born with, and involves an abnormal blood flow to the liver. This could possibly be solved by surgery, or Vinny just may need to be monitored and "live his whole life with chronic liver disease." Whatever that means.

Mom knows she might not have gotten some of the details right. It is a lot to understand and we just aren't to the point where we know what is going to happen or what his future holds. But it makes Mom very sad because he's such a seemingly happy and healthy boy.

We will keep you updated. They hope to schedule the ultrasound for this week. Mom still hasn't adopted Vinny and for now he is on "medical hold" with the rescue. It's causing Mom to stress out a lot. She is not sure what she is going to do.

On another note, Jack stayed with us AGAIN this weekend. You guessed it, Uncle Michael went floating AGAIN.

And you also guessed it - he tried to eat both of us! Once it was me and once it was Vinny! Luckily Mom put him in time-out and gave him a stern talking-to before he could swallow us. The good part about Jack trying to have us for dinner is that Vinny & I really bonded as a team against the Crazy Beagle.

Mom said for most of the weekend we were all really good.

But she was happy when Uncle Michael came home to pick up Jack the Jerk at noon yesterday. And so were we!

Later, friends!

Stuff

Today my Mom made me go to bed and then she put Vinny's harness on. I hate it when they go on adventures without me so I let them hear it!!! Turns out, I should have been pretty happy to stay home in my nice air conditioned castle because apparently Vinny went to the vet. He's been barfing all week. He's done it probably 6 times. It's all food, nothing else gross, but the vet said to bring him in.

So they went and Vinny got bloodwork done and got put on an antibiotic for the week. The blood test results will come in on Monday. He's acting pretty normal so Mom thinks it's not anything too serious. Paws crossed!

In other news, Louie's mom posted a new picture of him this week from his visit to see his extended family in Nebraska. She titled it "King Louis" and my Mom loved it!!

I now demand to be called King Vito!!!

Vinny and I got baths earlier this week. Vinny did not do as well in the bath as I do. Ha! I am so perfect!! I mean, he did okay but he did try to get out of the sink once. He's a wild man, that one.

We had just gotten dry when it started pouring rain outside!

That same night, Mom put this fleece blankie in the floor. SEPRA sends fleece blankies for their fosters and Louie and I looooved to chew on the tassles! (Just like my Mom's big Cardinals blanket that I have taken on as my own!) Well she thought Vinny (AND I!!) might like to play with it. But you know what that fool did? He just laid down on it!

Alright, that's all for today.

Stay cool, friends!

Need Advice

Vito's Mom here - hijacking his blog once again! But this time it's not to talk about other pugs, so he's okay with it. ;)

Last week while rubbing on Vito, I felt a bump on his right side, just a little behind his front leg. I didn't think anything of it at first, I thought I had just hit one of his teeny puggie nipples. (Ew.) But then I kept hitting it and finally inspected. It's not a nipple, that's for sure. I decided to keep an eye on it and, as they say with human moles, make sure that it didn't "change." Well it hasn't changed in just a week, but I am concerned enough that I decided tonight to take pictures of it.

I am not soliciting any medical advice, so have no worries that I will sue you if you tell me something wrong! I just wanted to get some opinions and utilize the years of Pug experience that is out there among my Blogger friends. I know I have heard about "skin tags" - but I don't really know what those are or what they look like. I also have heard worse things - like cancer.

And for fear of sounding like a cheapskate, b/c of course I would sell my soul in exchange for Vito's health - I would love to avoid the vet if this looks to anyone like something they have seen before on their puggies?

Note, even though these may look different, all of these pictures were taken within seconds of each other tonight. (I left my fingers in the shot to show size perspective!)

Now, so as to not leave this post completely devoid of cute puggie shots - here is a picture of Vinny and Vito, just chilling in the a/c (and of course they were both lying down just like Vinny until Vito heard the camera chime and had to perk up).

Thank you in advance!

Dress Up Day

Really sometimes I think my Mom just exists to annoy me. I mean, I love the Cardinals as much as the next guy, but I hate clothes. I haaaaaaate them!! I prefer to be "au natural."

She is forever trying to put SOMETHING on me - whether it be a hat, or a sweater vest, or my Cardinals jersey. And today she was clearly bored or something, and it was too hot outside to do anything else once she had cleaned the whole house. So she decided to pass the time like this:

Luckily, this time I at least got a treat (ok, TREATS) while being tortured.

Oh and then there is that guy in the pictures with me. Whatever. I'm not ready to discuss.

Later, friends!

Welcome, Vinny!!

How gorgeous is this boy?

I finally had to make the decision, and it eventually had to come to an Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo kind of situation between Vinny and Bugsy based on the equally split Facebook/Blogger vote. Vinny it is!

(And as you might guess, Vito had nothing to do with this post. He is still mad about being reprimanded for intentionally peeing on his new brother's leg tonight, causing Mom to have to put Vinny in the kitchen sink and carefully rinse his leg off while avoiding his recent neuter!)

Thanks to everyone for their input! Vinny is such a gem and fitting in to our family perfectly! Vito will return to his regularly scheduled posts soon! (...Once he is out of Solitary for his Pee Infraction, that is...)